PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in House · Mar 10, 2025
Broadband Expansion And Deployment Fee Equity and Efficiency Act of 2025 or the BEAD FEE Act of 2025
This bill limits the nature of fees that states and territories receiving Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program funding may impose on applicants seeking authorization to construct or deploy broadband infrastructure.
(The BEAD Program is administered by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration and provides funding to eligible entities for broadband deployment, connectivity, mapping, and adoption projects. Eligible entities include U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia.)
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Under the bill, BEAD funds may not be provided to an eligible entity if the entity or a political subdivision of the entity charges fees (1) to consider a request to place, construct, or modify broadband infrastructure; or (2) for the use of a right-of-way owned or managed by the entity or a political subdivision, or for the use of infrastructure within such a right-of-way, to place, construct, or modify broadband infrastructure. However, this restriction does not apply to fees that are competitively neutral, technology neutral, nondiscriminatory, publicly disclosed, and based on actual, direct, and objectively reasonable costs. Any such fee must be described to applicants in a manner that distinguishes between (1) recurring and nonrecurring fees, and (2) the use of infrastructure on which there is no existing broadband infrastructure and the use of infrastructure on which there is existing broadband infrastructure as of the date of the application.
People & committees
Rep. Allen, Rick W. [R-GA-12] · R–GA
Legislative record
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Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Primary sources
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No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: May 23, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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